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“I remember falling backwards and feeling something. People said they heard a snap. I got up, saw my arm, and started screaming. I didn’t know what to do. I was really scared,” junior Franco Caltabiano said. Caltabiano broke his ulna and radius, two large bones located in the forearm, during a soccer game at Mount Saint Joseph High School on Sept. 25.

According to Caltabiano, he doesn’t remember much of how the incident actually occurred. From what he remembers, the play started with Caltabiano jumping up for a head ball.

“I was eye-level with the stands,” Caltabiano said. Then, a Mount Saint Joseph player ran under him, and Caltabiano tried to break his fall coming down, consequently breaking his arm.

An ambulance was called immediately, and Caltabiano was taken to the hospital. He says he was panicking once the ambulance arrived. “I’ve heard stories about people getting their arm snapped back into place when they break it like I did. I didn’t want them to touch me while I was awake. I asked the EMT if [the doctors] were going to put me to sleep before they touched me again, and all he said was ‘no promises,’” Caltabiano said.

Once he got to the hospital, he asked a nurse the same question he had asked the EMT. She said yes, which calmed him down a little bit, but the fear was still present. The doctors gave Caltabiano Ketamine, a painkiller, but Caltabiano said he tried to fight the drug even though it helped relieve the pain. “I felt like I had no control over my life. I didn’t know what was happening,“ Caltabiano said.

On Sept. 29, Caltabiano had surgery to repair his arm. He currently has two plates and twelve screws in his arm. When the initial incident occurred, Caltabiano’s bone was perpendicular to his arm.

“It was a disturbing injury,” senior goalkeeper Adam Mrowiec said.

“

We’ve been playing for Franco.”

— Adam Mrowiec

Caltabiano’s injury has affected the varsity soccer team both on and off the field. “He’s an important role in the midfield,” junior midfielder Seth Anderson said.

“It has been difficult in the sense that the atmosphere is different. What he brought to the table was more than a skill asset; his personality was important to the team,” Mrowiec said.

Before Caltabiano’s injury, the team was 4-4. Since his injury, the team has gone 1-3-1.

Although his injury may be taking a toll on the team on the field, off the field it has only unified them. “I believe that we’ve been playing a little harder. We’ve been playing for Franco,” Mrowiec said. According to Anderson, the whole team has pitched in, helping him carry books, taking notes for him, and some even went to the hospital to visit him.

Even watching his team play is painful for Caltabiano. “Every time someone goes up for a head ball I cringe. It gives me anxiety,” Caltabiano said.

School has been difficult, too. “I’m drowning in schoolwork from missing [school],” Caltabiano said.

Caltabiano says he’s out of soccer for three months, but that time could vary depending on how his bone heals. “The doctor said everything looks pretty good so far. I could be back a week earlier or a week later,” Caltabiano said.